Antel and the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) have signed an agreement to build and install new digital and literacy centers - MEC centers - across the country.

The aim is to promote the democratization of access to the information society, knowledge, education and culture.

By 2014, they aim to create at least 90 new centers in towns, neighborhoods or areas with high unmet demand for access to the information society in different parts of the country. These will join the hundreds of CMEC that are already in operation.

In the event on Wednesday 29 June was attended by the Minister of Education and Culture Dr. Ricardo Ehrlich, president of Antel Ms. Carolina Cosse, Mr. Pablo Barletta Vice President of Antel and the General Manager Mr. Andres Tolosa.

The Ing. Cosse reviewed some recent topics such as the three days of ICTs (information and communication Technologies) and Agriculture, attended by foreign technicians, Antel, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP). In that event the expositions were on precision agriculture, the interest in promoting these from Antel, issues of digital literacy and the encouragement to development of information and technology and the development of national industry around the agricultural sector. "Our commitment was to provide a canal to the proposals that emerged from this event, in addition to our initiative to access to centers of information, an area of ​​social inclusion", she said.

The
President of Peru, Alan Garcia, considered that to have been
connected to 1,834 districts countrywide with telephone and internet
services is a "formidable achievement", which helps to
strengthen the identity of the nation and promote social inclusion.

He
said that communication between people separated by a difficult
geography, as the Peruvian, and also which has cultural differences,
helps to create a "common collective soul" among all
Peruvians.

"That
is the vital and historical sense that these (telephone connections
and internet) have: managed to link all the districts of Peru and its
surrounding towns through telephony and internet, which is also a
gateway to the world".

Therefore,
the President reiterated that have connected to that number of
districts is a "formidable achievement" for which he
thanked everyone who contributed their work and effort to achieve it.

"(...)
Today we find that finally 1.834 districts are communicated by
telephone and included in Internet communication, is a formidable
achievement for which I thank all employees and those who have made
that these districts can be included".

The
President of Peru added that the connection of people inside the
country has not only a social impact, but also enormous economic
impact, as all of these districts can use these communication
services as a platform for commercial activities.

After three intense days of work and exchange of
experiences, on June 15, was held a roundtable on digital literacy in rural
areas and the closing event "ICT and Agriculture: The role of ICTs in agricultural
development".

Antel's
president, Carolina Cosse, said as in the opening ceremony, "we should be obsessed
with the value addition and the development of sustainability in the economy of
our country". This imply recognizing strategic areas and one of them is the “broadband
in the country" to digitize Uruguay and be in line with the new economy.

"For
Antel is essential that this tool of broadband is available throughout the
country, that's a key part in the history of Antel, a public company serving strategic
issues, a tool for the deployment of public policy. “Ceibal Plan” would not
been implemented without a public telecommunications company”, she said.

According to
Cosse, "is a great responsibility for those who work in Antel to address
strategic issues in the country and ask again and again, what is their role to
develop the business and provide the telecom service to more people".

As an
example of the activities of Antel, she noted the schedule of installation of
optical fiber and 3G base stations, telecommunication support for the “Plan Ceibal”,
participation in the "Centers MEC" and Centers with their own access, the “Plan
Siembra”, the Universal Program “Homes”, the “Plan Integra”, the agreement with
Uruguay's National Television (TNU), the contribution to Rural plan,
participation in rural electrification and telecommunications infrastructure
for the University of the Republic.

As for
literacy, Ms. Cosse said that "the processes of literacy are deeply
interactive learning process where teachers learn a lot of reality in which
they live". In this sense, she said Antel will increase its participation
in the "Centers MEC", allowing everybody to gain more knowledge and know the needs
regarding content and applications.

Empowering women and advancing their rights is
not only the right thing to do but it can lead to progress on a range
of issues, including the fight against poverty, hunger and violence,
the head of the United Nations agency tasked with promoting women’s
rights said today.

“Promoting gender equality
and women’s empowerment is not solely a plea for justice or for
fulfilling human rights commitments. It is both of those things, but
also so much more”, Michelle Bachelet said in her opening statement to the annual session of the Executive Board of the UN Entity for
Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

“Where we fail to
capitalize on the potential and talents of one half of the
population, we also squander the potential to reduce poverty, hunger,
disease, environmental degradation and violence”, she stated.

“The evidence base for
this is growing”, added Ms. Bachelet, the Executive Director of UN
Women and former Chilean President.

She noted that in a recent
report, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
estimates that closing the gender productivity gap arising from
unequal access of women to productive resources would reduce the
number of undernourished people by 12 to 17 per cent. That translates
into 100 to 150 million fewer people living in hunger.

Countries, she added, are beginning to count
the cost of domestic violence to health and in lost workplace
productivity, which in the United States reaches $5.8 billion each
year. “In today’s world, can we afford not to increase investment
in eliminating gender discrimination when it has the potential to
yield such high returns?

“UN Women’s good fortune is that it comes
into being at a time when countries and businesses are asking this
question, and rethinking their investment strategies,” she stated.
“Our challenge now is to meet the rising demands and expectations.”

Ms. Bachelet has identified six priorities for
the new agency, including ending violence against women, ensuring
their full participation in conflict resolution and enhancing their
economic empowerment.

"Computadoras for everybody"
is an excellent governmental initiative which is at the disposal of
Ecuadorians, though the Bank of the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (BIESS),
entity that provides facilities for those interested to acquire a computer.

Another alternative of the market is offered by the
National Corporation of Telecommunications (CNT EP), which provides
opportunities to acquire desktops, laptops and netbooks together with a package
of Internet and finance it in installments up to 24 months.

A person with access to technologies, such as in this
case of Internet, has a great chance of overcoming that start with a click. For
this reason, the national Government is increasing their efforts so that
citizens can have access to technology and they will be on par with this modern
world.

The projects run by the Ministry of Telecommunications, which
provide connectivity and equipment in remote locations and projects in schools
with limited financial resources, are a great contribution to the national
development.

These services are now a reality and it will continue to
fight for disappears the technological illiteracy completely in the country.
For this reason, the Ministry of Telecommunications continues to develop
projects such as: Infocentros community, equipped with computers and the
Internet; the National Plan of Connectivity that arrives at the national level
with equipment for public schools of the country.

There is no better development knowledge, that the
effective management of technologies, which will reduce digital illiteracy and
induced to citizenship in the employment and improvement of the quality of
their life.

The
Ministry of Transport and Communications launched today the campaign
of information and guidance to the public on the proper use of
emergency telecommunications services, which at first time involves
telephone operators, radio and television who have been committed to
broadcast nationwide and for free, messages for the public to learn
to communicate in case of earthquakes.

The
campaign launch was attended by the Minister of Transport and
Communications, Dr. Enrique Cornejo, the chief of INDECI, General
Luis Palomino, the CEO of Telefonica del Peru, Javier Manzanares,
Manager Regulatory of Nextel del Peru, Ernesto Montagne, Nachtigall
Delgado Hogo President of the National Society of Radio and
Television and Vice President of the association, Marcello Cuneo.

The
goal of the campaign is to teach people the 3 basic steps to follow
in an emergency: First, to communicate with family members the people
should sent a text messages; Second, use the internet, if we have
this service available and Third, if we found in the area of
​​emergency,
dial 119 and leave a voice message.

The
Minister of Transport said that telecommunications are crucial in all
phases of emergency management. This is essential from the prevention
and disaster management to the relief efforts.

In this
regard, the Head of INDECI, General Luis Palomino said that the
information campaign on telecommunications services in emergency
cases is a significant advance in emergency preparation.

National
and international experience shows that in cases of earthquakes, the
public telecommunications networks, including fixed and mobile
networks are not infallible and could present technical restrictions
during the first hours or days of the emergency due to the
interruption of power supply, falling poles, broken cables, antennas
and congestion of calls.

Increasing
women's access to quality midwifery has become a focus of global
efforts to realize the right of every woman to the best possible
health care during pregnancy and childbirth. A first step is
assessing the situation.

The
State of World's Midwifery 2011: Delivering Health, Saving Lives,
supported by 30 partners, provides the first comprehensive analysis
of midwifery services and issues in countries where the needs are
greatest.

The
report provides new information and data gathered from 58 countries
in all regions of the world. Its analysis confirms that the world
lacks some 350,000 skilled midwives -- 112,000 in the neediest 38
countries surveyed -- to fully meet the needs of women around the
world. The report explores a range of issues related to building up
this key health workforce.

This
page includes access to the full report in three languages, as well
as related resources, applications, bibliographical information,
individual country profiles and stories of midwives.

In the first half of
next year, Telefonica del Peru (TdP) will culminate the installation of the
optical fiber for the Fiber Optic Project “Andes”, through which will be
connected to eight departments in the sierra and jungle of Peru, said today the
executive chief of Telefonica del Peru, Javier Manzanares. "We have come
to Cusco which marks the first milestone of the project, which has required an
investment of 300 million new soles for lying of 400 kilometers", he said.

The project uses a
network of 1,800 kilometers of optical fiber and is developed by the Colombian
firm Internexa, part of the ISA. This initiative is part of TdP investment
program for the period 2010 - 2013, amounting to US$ 1.500 billion.

"It's a major
project and will benefit more than 2.4 million inhabitants of the highlands and
jungle of Peru, giving them access to an Internet service with the same
characteristics as in Lima", he explained.

He said that before
the arrival of the optical fiber to Cusco, the voice, data and Internet
services were very limited in speed because there was greater carrying
capacity. "We're talking speeds ranging from 200 to 400 kilobits (Kb) per
second and can now get up to four megabytes of speed", he said.

Manzanares announced
that the next cities to connect the remainder of the year are Huancavelica,
Abancay (Apurimac), Andahuaylas (Apurimac), Ayacucho, Carhuamayo (Junín),
Huánuco and Tingo María (Huánuco) and Pucallpa (Ucayali). "For the first
part of 2012 is expected to arrive with the service in Tocache Juanjuí,
Bellavista and Tarapoto in San Martin and Amazonas Yurimaguas", he said.

He recalled that a
World Bank study on the impact of broadband in the development of medium income
countries such as Peru, found that for every ten points of penetration of
broadband Internet, economy grows by about 1.38 percentage points extra.

The Minister of Information and Communications Technologies, Diego Molano Vega, the Deputy Minister, María Carolina Hoyos Turbay, and the Colonel of Police, Mario Guerrero Fonseca, submitted a computer room at the school Leon XIII Soacha, Cundinamarca.

"This is a contribution of the Ministry as a sponsor of the department of Cundinamarca", said Molano Vega, also he said that in addition to the jounger population (more than 3 000 children), the computers will also benefit to 650 adults, which will reinforce the educational processes in this town south of Bogota.

"We are committed to education and the maintenance of security in this vulnerable area of Soacha" said Col. Guerrero, while announcing the commitment of the National Police to continue to support other regions in partnership with the ICT Ministry and "Computers for Education".

At this site, the National Police, built floors, ceilings and left the places in a better position to benefit the population.

Computers for Schools has delivered 1190 equipments in 55 educational sites in this town and about 24,000 in the department of Cundinamarca. The ICT Ministry Program works to expand access, to train teachers in appropriate technologies in the formal education system and, simultaneously, leads the environmental component of the Digital Living plan through the reuse of computers and electronic waste.

Hundreds
of citizens from disadvantaged communities are now using video
cameras to report on issues that affect them and their neighbors.
With training from the Video Volunteers, local video producers are
changing the dominant model of media in the country to make it more
democratic and diverse.

Mukesh Rajak, from the eastern
state of Jharkand makes an unlikely activist in India. Born poor and
Dalit,
Rajak faced a life of discrimination with little access to education
and developmental resources. Yet despite not being born into the
“right caste”, Rajak has improved the schools in his village with
the aid of a video camera.

“I had done
a video
on this school reporting that the teachers employed were taking
bribes from students for teaching and conducting examinations,”
explained Rajak proudly. “I showed it to the Block Education
Officer. She saw this video and came to visit the village school. She
demoted the headmaster of the school and now no teacher asks for
bribes. Students are happy that they can now study for free”.

Rajak produced the video as a
community correspondent for “India
Unheard”
a relatively new community news service. Launched in February 2010,
India Unheard has community
correspondents in every state in India reporting on issues ranging from poverty and
human rights to local culture.

“IndiaUnheard” is one of
several citizen journalism projects in the country established by
Video
Volunteers,
a U.S.-based international organization that trains people from
disadvantaged communities to create their own locally relevant and
locally produced media. In India, Video Volunteers operates an
intensive training in all aspects of video production for aspiring
correspondents for “IndiaUnheard” and others interested in video
journalism.

Journalists from all walks of life

Through its training efforts in India, Video
Volunteers has created “the largest, most diverse network” of
community video producers anywhere in the world, according to Video
Volunteers Communication Manager Siddarth Pillai.

“Nearly 200 villagers and
slum dwellers—former diamond polishers, rickshaw drivers and day
laborers – are currently working as community producers”, Pillai
said in an email interview. Pillai explained that more than 50
percent of these producers are women, and also come from communities
“most affected by human and civil rights violations”, namely
Dalits, Muslims and Tribal people.

After training, some of the
producers work for Video
Volunteers’ Community Video Units. These
locally owned and managed units are set up in areas that rarely
receive coverage from the mainstream media. They produce
community-specific news and documentaries.

Five United Nations agencies have banded together to call for urgently addressing gender-biased sex selection favouring boys, a common practice in many parts of South, East and Central Asia that they say fuels a culture of discrimination and violence.

“Sex selection in favour of boys is a symptom of pervasive social, cultural, political and economic injustices against women, and a manifest violation of women’s human rights”, says a statement issued by the agencies, which have reviewed the evidence behind the causes, consequences and lessons learned regarding “son preference”.

Often under intense pressure to produce a son, women seek to discover the sex of a foetus through ultrasound. The discovery of a female foetus can then lead to its abortion. Sex selection can also take place before a pregnancy is established, or after the birth of a girl, through child neglect or infanticide, they add. Over decades, the practice has caused a sex-ratio imbalance in many countries particularly in South Asia, East Asia and Central Asia – with ratios in some places as high as 130 boys for every 100 girls.

“There is huge pressure on women to produce sons… which not only directly affects women’s reproductive decisions, with implications for their health and survival, but also puts women in a position where they must perpetuate the lower status of girls through son preference”, they say.

“It is also women who have to bear the consequences of giving birth to an unwanted girl child. These consequences can include violence, abandonment, divorce or even death”, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The imbalance between the number of men and women owing to sex selection can in some areas lead to the trafficking of women for forced marriages from other regions or the sharing of brides among brothers, the agencies point out.

“Renewed and concerted efforts are needed by governments and civil society to address the deeply rooted gender discrimination which lies at the heart of sex selection”, the experts noted.

They propose concrete steps to tackle the problem, including the collection of more reliable data on the extent of the problem and the factors driving it; guidelines on the use of technology for health professionals; supportive measures for girls and women, such as incentives for families with only daughters; and other legal and awareness-raising actions.

Film
Forum, talks, concerts, exhibitions and awareness-raising circuit are
part of the activities organized to celebrate the two year period
without barriers CANTV, which allows training and awareness servers
and public servants on the proper treatment of persons with
disabilities.

In
the framework of “Cantv sin Barreras” from Monday 13 to Friday
June 17th will be held at the headquarters of the telecommunications
company a week dedicated to inclusion and disability awareness.

These
activities begin in the auditorium with the authorities of CANTV and
various papers as: Rights and duties of persons with disabilities,
access to work, Prevention, Health Education, Sex and Disability,
Accessibility, What's happening in Venezuela?, barriers,
discrimination and indolence, among others.

Also
there
will be carried out the photographic exhibition "Our Interior
Sense", which is the result of Blind Photography workshop made
by public servants of the company.

These
meetings promote the exchange of information, knowledge and
experience to forge a new way to interact and understand the
disability as a condition but not an impediment to development

With
initiatives like this, CANTV is increasingly integrating their public
servers and activities to raise awareness of the need for inclusion,
awareness and potential of persons with disabilities.

MTPE
rescues 10.084 children who had been working and punish to 168
companies

A
few hours after the celebration of the World Day Against Child
Labour, the Ministry of Labour and Women's led a social urban
awareness intervention about the magnitude of this problem that
affects the future of more than two million children and adolescents
between 6 and 17 years old, according to the National Household
Survey 2008 of the National Statistics Institute (INEI). The
conference, which had the slogan "Men at Work, children
studying" and "Women at Work, girls at school" was
conducted in 150 corners of the country in partnership with the
International Labour Organization (ILO),
the National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Eradication of
Child Labour (CPETI)
and the Telefónica Foundation.

Thus,they distributed material about the problem of children labor and
the need to eradicate it, and spread, through posters, the need for
children to study. Characterization was also associated with child
labor jobs such as cleaning cars and selling candy in the streets.

Participants
included officials from the involved institutions, artists and
persons discharged from the Program “Proniño”
that
Telefónica Foundation runs to insert into education to working
children.

The
first ever World
report on disability,
produced jointly by WHO and the World Bank, suggests that more than a
billion people in the world today experience disability.

People
with disabilities have generally poorer health, lower education
achievements, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of
poverty than people without disabilities. This is largely due to the
lack of services available to them and the many obstacles they face
in their everyday lives. The report provides the best available
evidence about what works to overcome barriers to health care,
rehabilitation, education, employment, and support services, and to
create the environments which will enable people with disabilities to
flourish. The report ends with a concrete set of recommended actions
for governments and their partners.

This
pioneering World
report on disability
will make a significant contribution to implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At the
intersection of public health, human rights and development, the
report is set to become a "must have" resource for
policy-makers, service providers, professionals, and advocates for
people with disabilities and their families.

With flexible hours and from the comfort of your home
or office, the population can enjoy, in the second half of the year, the most
varied courses in telecommunications, that CONATEL through CEDITEL offered for
those interested in studying in the form of distance or semi personal
learning, thanks to the virtual platform SAD (Distance Learning System),
developed by the institution.

From July 5, the Centre for Telecommunications and
Information Development, Ceditel, plans to offer courses about the Law of
Social Responsibility in Radio, Television and Electronic Media, Education
Development, Accounting for Social Organizations and Basic Tool Open Office.

Regarding telecommunications, the community can deepen
their learning on Wireless Local Area Networks and Person, Technology and Basic
Telecommunications Services and the Computer and Communications Security.

Also, the training offered by CEDITEL highlights the study
Model of Community Media, to publicize the promotion and strengthening of
People's Power through these media.

SAD, brings a new image, offering to users an
educational portal, more intuitive, to only one-click information to facilitate
all processes related to registration and classification of information content
as well as the latest in news in the virtual world.

The online course offerings for the period of June to
November 2011, is now available on the website www.conatel.gob.ve. For more information, enter to http://sad.ceditel.gob.ve/sad/

This
Saturday June 11th there will be an expert panel for “Vive Digital TV” from ICT
Ministry, which is transmitting every Saturday by the Institutional Channel. In this
issue, parents can discuss with the invited experts, the risks faced by their
children when surfing the Internet.

The Program "Vive
Digital" expert panel is led by the Ministry on ICT, María Carolina
Hoyos Turbay and this time with the participation of two experts on the
protection of children's rights, Senator Gilma Jimenez, and Freddy Bautista,
Head of the Dijin cybercrime.

During this half hour, they will discuss the
attitude that parents should take to protected against activities that develop
their children on the web. Also discuss the technological tools that exist to
prevent children from entering malicious sites that could put on risk their
personal security.

In terms of laws, experts will present the
measures that have being advanced to prevent the vulnerability of the rights of
children via the Internet. For her part the Minister Hoyos Turbay, will present
the progress of "Healthy Internet", an initiative that guides parents
and children on digital behaviors to be taken while browsing the Internet. www.tus10comportamientosdigitales.com

The
new internet portal "Citizenship 2.0-transforming Latin
America", was launched on Monday, May 30. Its aim is to
encourage participation of citizens, especially young people, in the
preparatory discussions of the XXI Ibero-American Summit of Heads of
State and Government, whose central theme will be "State
Transformation and Development" which will be held in Asuncion,
Paraguay, on 28 and October 29, 2011.This project is an initiative of the General
Iberoamerican Secretary, Enrique V. Iglesias, who aims to encourage
citizen participation in the issues being discussed at the Summit,
as well as boosting the use of new information technologies and
social networks. The portal is part of a plan of joint activities of
the General Iberoamerican Secretariat and the Institute for Latin
America at the University of Salamanca.On
Monday 30th also were launched two other priority activities within
the project. The first is a Young Researchers Seminar about
"Transforming the state and development." The second is an
essay contest whose theme is "New strategies to strengthen the
state and improve the conditions for development in Latin America."
Both activities will have a specialized jury that will choose the
best best paper. The award will be an invitation to attend the next
Summit of Heads of State and Government.During
the coming months, workshops of Debate 2.0 will be held in four Latin
American cities (Quito, Cordoba, Mexico and São Paulo), from which
further discussions will also be presented to the Summit. They will
complement the "Recommendation Document" prepared by the
participants of the first Workshop Salamanca 2.0, held in the Latin
American Institute at the University of Salamanca on 23 May 2011. To
access: http://www.ciudadania20.org/

Governments around the world need to rapidly formulate and implement national multi-sectoral broadband plans – or risk being seriously disadvantaged in today’s increasingly high-speed digital environment, according to a new report released today by the Broadband Commission for Digital Development at its third meeting, held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The report, entitled Broadband: A Platform for Progress, argues: “To optimize the benefits to society, broadband should be coordinated on a countrywide basis, promoting facilities-based competition and with policies encouraging service providers to offer access on fair market terms...efforts should be coordinated across all sectors of industry, administration and the economy. Developing isolated projects or piecemeal, duplicated networks is not only inefficient, it delays provision of infrastructure that is becoming as crucial in the modern world as roads or electricity supplies.”

The report also makes a strong case for broadband as a driver of economic growth and new jobs, citing country case studies and reports by leading consultancies.

One study suggests that in China, for instance, every 10% increase in broadband penetration could contribute an extra 2.5% to GDP growth. Other data cited in the report suggest that, for low- and middle-income countries, a 10-percentage-point rise in broadband penetration could add up to a 1.4-percentage point rise in economic growth.

Concerning jobs, an analysis for the European Commission estimates that broadband could create more than two million jobs in Europe by 2015, while a study in Brazil reports that access to broadband has already added up to 1.4% to the employment growth rate.

Offering much more than faster access to web pages, broadband networks are a crucial element of the ‘Internet of Things’, by which ordinary inanimate objects communicate with one another using technologies like RFID, without the need for human intervention. Such networks are already revolutionizing inventory control and fleet management, and are set to play a growing role in key social sectors like healthcare, through e-health applications, education, through remote learning and teacher training, and environmental management through applications like smart grids, monitoring systems and smart buildings.

The Plan “Vive Digital” from the ICT Ministry seeks to promote ICT access, use and massive appropriation of ICTs, through policies and programs to achieve progressive and sustainable levels of development in all departments of Colombia.

In pursuance of this strategy, they established the Plan "Vive Digital Regional" an initiative that seeks to bring to the next level of maturity of digital territories and aligned with the new government policies of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies. Also, the new initiative is supported by an alliance with “Colciencias” and “Fidubogotá”, as the spokeswoman of the autonomous equity fund called National Funding for science, technology and innovation, Francisco José de Caldas.

This initiative aims to support plans for regional and municipal governments and their development plans and competitiveness through co-financing of projects promoting regional innovation and technological development through ICT. To achieve this, they promote synergies between the public sector, private sector and academia, as well as cooperation between regions and supporting the country's reconstruction following the rainy season in areas related to the objectives of the Ministry.

"Vive Digital Regional" articulates the development of Digital Ecosystem, in the 32 departments of Colombia and the Capital District through the support of government initiatives that require the use of ICT for effective development of their regions. It also provides the tools necessary to ensure that people take ownership of ICT and make use of its advantages in search of competitive development of their region.

How can the ‘mobile miracle’ be replicated to extend broadband access to all?

Broadband is
today’s transformational technology. By revolutionizing access to
content and changing the delivery paradigms for a whole host of
public and private sector services, it is becoming essential basic
infrastructure for every country’s future development. Yet for the
moment, access to high-speed Internet is very much a rich-world
privilege. To truly harness the power of information and
communication technologies to create tomorrow’s Knowledge Societies
and meet the Millennium Development Goals, new approaches to driving
broadband roll-out across economic barriers are urgently needed. This
report looks at what broadband can bring, the state of deployment
around the world, and innovative models that can help bring
high-speed connectivity to the world’s poorest communities.

The United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a
specialized agency of the United Nations. Established in 1946, UNESCO
works for world peace and international understanding through its key
programme areas: education, natural and social sciences, culture, and
communication and information.

The Spanish version of the popular online encyclopedia, which celebrates ten years, is trying to convince teachers to encourage their use in schools.

"Imagine a world in which every human being can freely share the sum of all knowledge", is the motto of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind Wikipedia, the largest online collaborative project. Tomorrow will be ten years since an anonymous net-surfer opened the Wikipedia in Spanish with a small table called "countries of the world", an article that has been revised today more than 600 times and is part of the over 759,000 in the encyclopedia in this language.

Four months after the birth of her Anglo counterpart, soul and brain of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, gave his approval to developers to put up versions in other languages. The Spanish company now occupies the sixth place in number of articles and fight not stops growing while improving existing content.To encourage growth, the Wikimedia Foundation refers to the number of Spanish speakers who can contribute. This represents a double-edged sword. There are over 450 million Spanish speakers and English speakers only 50 million more. However, the English Wikipedia has nearly five times more articles (3.6 million) than the Spanish version.

"Increasing participation is one of the five priorities of our strategic plan" can be read recently at the blog of the Wikimedia Foundation. To encourage Castilian edition, they reached an agreement in July last year with “Educared” from Telefonica Foundation. The agreement seeks to extend between the idea that teachers have to teach their students to enter articles in the Wikipedia. Thus, the encyclopedia could continue to grow while quality becomes a standard reference source.

The limited growth of Wikipedia, in the number of items, is not found only in the version in Castilian. The thesis, "Wikipedia: a quantitative analysis” by the researcher Felipe Ortega from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, shows that the number of users who created or expanded articles suffered a slowdown, which is interpreted as stability by their defenders. "The initial impetus for Wikipedia needed a global push, but now the encyclopedia includes almost everything. We must begin a stage of maturity, to improve existing items", says the director of education and knowledge network of the Foundation Telefonica, José de la Peña.

A Global Partnership for Girls’
and Women’s Education will be launched at a high level forum to be held at
UNESCO Headquarters on Thursday 26 May.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova will welcome participants to
the event, followed by opening remarks from United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The
keynote speech for the Forum will be made by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh,
Sheikh Hasina.

Prime Minister of Mali Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, the Aga Khan,
founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network Foundation, and
representatives of several corporate giants participating in the
partnership including Nokia, Procter and Gamble, GEMS Education, Microsoft and
the Packard Foundation, will also participate.

Globally, some 39 million girls of lower secondary age are
currently not enrolled in either primary or secondary education, while two
thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate adults are women. Only about one
third of countries have achieved gender parity at secondary level.

‘Better Life, Better Future’ will seek
collaborative and innovative solutions to the most fundamental obstacles and
challenges to education for women and adolescent girls. A number of projects
are already underway in several countries.

To democratize the processes of access to information
for citizens in the web portals of government agencies, the Ministry of
Telecommunication and Information Society, through the Office of Electronic
Government and Competitiveness, UNESCO and Research Center for Information
Society IMAGINAR organized the workshop on "Usability of Government Web
sites", on 17th, 18th and May 19th in Quito, Guayaquil and
Cuenca, respectively.

The workshop's objective was to incorporate and
strengthen the criteria for usability of government websites to ensure citizens
access to current information and timely; also, for facilitating the
implementation process of public procedures in line with functionality and
quality, to optimize time and resources,
and benefit from the Information and Communication Technology.

Access to public information is a fundamental right of
citizenship that can generate a culture of transparency and strengthens
democracy. Therefore, the Government through
the Ministry of Telecommunications, supports the use of ICT and considers the Electronic
Government as a powerful tool to implement administrative reforms with numerous
benefits such as efficiency and effectiveness, the transparency and democratic participation.

It is important to note that at the moment most of the
public institutions have Web sites, through those they report its activities,
its services and allow the completion of documents on line.

- Two villages of "Wayuu" community will
benefit. - In 2001 "La Guajira" registered 335 students for each computer, today
the number is 22 and the target for the next four years is 12 children per
computer.- Around 6,000 computers were received by the department of La Guajira
from this national program.

“Computers for Schools” program from the ICT Ministry will present this
Saturday, May 21st computers to three public educational centers in
the capital of La Guajira, two located in villages, benefiting about 400
children from the Wayuu community.

“Computers for Schools” have reached 100% of the municipalities
of this area. However, not all sites located in 15 municipalities have full
coverage. "We still have 52 seats for benefit and with the work made today;
we started to reduce this gap. The goal we've set from the National Government
is to reach 12 children per computer when we finish the next four years" said
the Deputy Minister.

Guajira department was one of the most backward in terms of equipment
per student, now in its campus-there are 22 children per computer, which means
that it has reached over 80% of institutions in that department. This contrasts
with the situation in 2001, when they started Computers for Schools, which
registered 335 students for each computer.

Up to date, the ICT Ministry's program has benefited nearly
174,000 students with 5,990 computers delivered to 292 campus-La Guajira, which
have supported the educational work of 3,726 teachers. "But more
importantly we have also trained over 800 students in the incorporation of ICT,
which makes it really add to the time to contribute to the quality of education
in Colombia", noted the Program Director, Martha Castellanos.

The National
Government "committed to bridging the digital gap in Panama announced an
ambitious program of literacy and digital inclusion through “Senacyt Infoplazas
220”, that from now they will provide free Internet service around countrywide
for the benefit of all Panamanians. The announcement was made by the president,
Ricardo Martinelli during an event organized in the framework of the
celebration of World Telecommunication and Information Society.

Ruben
Berrocal, National Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation said
"we have reformed the management model and created a grant Infoplazas, an
associated incentive plan based on productivity rates, which will allow
Infoplazas Senacyt provide free Internet throughout the country".

The National
Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation in compliance with the
National Strategic Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (PENCYT
2010-2014) has opened 90 Infoplazas in the last two years. Berrocal added,
"We are working to double the number of facilities in Panama for the year
2014".

The
Infoplazas Senacyt are community centers for public access to information and
knowledge through the use of information, training programs, and Internet
access available to facilitate public access to new Information Technology and
Communication (ICT ), particularly those with limited resources and are located
in areas of difficult access, helping to bridge the digital gap and
incorporating the knowledge society.Eduardo Jaen, general manager of the National Authority
for Government Innovation, said that "the country makes strides to close
the digital gap with the announcement of this ambitious digital literacy
program that includes free Internet access through the Infoplazas Senacyt
National Network and the Internet For All. Starting today, all Panamanians will
have access to a computer with Internet to process electronically with the
government and businesses, raising the country's competitiveness".

The National
Internet Network with more than 120 thousand registered users who use it
regularly to access web pages, email and instant messaging services for free.
Current access 655 sites in 22 cities are located in places of concentration of
people such as schools and municipalities, libraries, community clubs, museums,
health centers and hospitals. It was announced that there will be 1,000
National Internet access points by the end of 2011.

ITU announces
significant new landmarks in the fight against cyberthreats

ITU has cemented new global
partnerships designed to make cyberspace a safer, more secure place
to be for consumers, businesses, and – most crucially – children
and youth.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed between
ITU and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at this
year’s WSIS Forum event in Geneva will see the two organizations
collaborate in assisting ITU and UN Member States mitigate the risks
posed by cybercrime.

The MoU will enable the two bodies to work
together to make available the necessary expertise and resources to
establish legal measures and legislative frameworks at national
level, for the benefit of all interested countries. It is the first
time that two organizations within the UN system have formally agreed
to cooperate at the global level on cybersecurity.

“This new alliance with
UNODC is a major milestone in implementing a coordinated global
approach to an increasingly serious global problem. Together, our two
agencies will generate powerful synergies that will help all
interested countries fight the scourge of cyberthreats and cybercrime
and create a safer
online environment for all”, said ITU Secretary-General Dr.
Hamadoun Touré.

In line with its long tradition of
public-private partnership, ITU has also signed an MoU with Symantec,
a leading provider of security, storage and systems management
solutions. ITU will use Symantec’s security intelligence, in the
form of its quarterly Internet Security Threat Reports, to increase
understanding of and readiness for cybersecurity risks.

By distributing this report – which captures
data from across Symantec’s Global Intelligence Network – to
interested Member States, ITU aims to help better prepare governments
in developing and developed nations alike to respond to the
ever-growing risk from malware, cyber attackers and information
thieves. This will facilitate awareness raising and knowledge
transfer, complementing the work of ITU and strengthening its
effectiveness as a global forum for governments and private sector to
build confidence and security in the use of ICTs.

Commenting on the
partnership, Enrique Salem, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Symantec, said: “Over the past year and a half, the researchers
that make up Symantec’s Global Intelligence Network have noted a
dramatic increase in the number of cyberattacks, as well as the
growing sophistication and impact of threats. The partnership
between ITU and Symantec will facilitate an increased understanding
of cybersecurity risks and how they can be reduced, increasing
confidence in new and emerging technologies and facilitating the
evolution of the digital world”.

Anar
Foundation will expand its helpline to young people Quechua´s
speaker who live at risk, thus they expected to be available to
population of 1 million 270 thousand children, adolescents and youth,
in most excluded areas of the country.Under
the slogan "Your voice will protect you", the foundation
Anar expand its service line from Friday May 20th to all calls in
Quechua to be made from landline or public telephone, conducted at
national level, free of charge and confidential from Monday to
Saturday (from 09:00 to 21:00).

Germán
Guajardo, president of Telephone Anar said that the Quechua service
arose from the need to expand the practice of counseling psychology
with an inclusive approach that benefits the most excluded
populations in the country, figures that come to 850 thousand
children 420 thousand adolescents and young people, according to
statistics from INEI (2007). He noted that from July 1998 until
April 2011, 342.478 calls were received nationwide.

The most
recurrent problems reported by children and adolescents are physical
violence, psychological and sexual problems; and difficulties with
their parents as well as psychological problems.

These
cases are treated with due confidentiality, they
receive support and guidance that they need to strengthen personal
aspects of the victim by promoting a culture of peace and good deal
with zero tolerance for violence.

Finally,
Mr. Guajardo
said that any request, advice or guidance needed by children and
young people can also be performed via email, entering in the
www.anarperu.org website, in the link: “Need help?”.

The Minister Errazuriz
said "it
will be a real transformation, a
connectivity revolution".

With a commitment to have all educational establishments connected to broadband
in March 2012, the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Pedro Pablo
Errazuriz, with his pair of Education, Joaquin Lavin, visited the School República of Paraguay in
Recoleta, where they
shared with students and where they have seen the areas with some technological
advances. The Minister Errazuriz stressed the objective of this initiative:
"We want everyone
in Chile have these same tools and time
to reach the knowledge revolution. This is a true transformation, a connectivity
revolution". "I opened the bidding that will allow us to fulfill this presidentialcommitment. Reaching this year with
high-quality broadband to 90% of students in the country and complete 100% by
2012", said
Errazuriz.

MinisterLavin said that "for the Ministry of
Education this is very important because it means that in March 2012 all
schools in Chile will have broadband internet. And when we say all, is all,even some school of the rural or more remote areas with satellite
connection”. The Education Minister noted the work that they have being done
through links, asserting that "Chile is reaching a level of 10 children
per computer. There are 3 and a half million students and 350 thousand
computers in schools. In all, notebooks, netbook, and a standard of 10 children per computer for a computer is quite reasonable compared with other countries".

Currently, 5,600 schools have some connection to the Internet but without
quality guaranteed, through this program will raise the standards of these schools,
also the schools without connectivity, will be connected, and reaching a
universe of more than 11,600 establishments.

For the implementation of this project will be used in 2011 about $ 7
billion and a similar public investment figure in 2012, through the Global
Telecommunication Development. "Additionally, we will have for the first time the online system
monitoring and control to ensure full compliance with the quality of broadband
service contract, which will connect all schools. So we can ensure that
resources invested by the State and the objectives of this initiative are
effectively met", concluded the Minister Errazuriz.

The
American Community of Nations held on May 17th the seventh edition of
the World Internet Day with over 300 activities and events in 23
countries. The event already has more than 800 developers worldwide
who join all kinds of organizations with a common goal: to bring new
technologies to the unconnected and develop the use of the Internet
to the public.

The
Seventh Internet Day Edition puts its focus on the debate about how
the Internet and new technologies affect human rights. The Senate
will host the main events of Awards and plenary discussion that will
be attended by leading figures such as Eduard Punset, science writer,
Rosa Conde, President of the Fundación Carolina, Jordi Sevilla,
former government minister and the journalist Nacho Escolar, among
others.

The
debate will be broadcast live over the Internet. To guide the
conversation, the speakers will leave the more than 300 contributions
that users around the world are stuck in the wall of Rights, the wall
that will remain open to encourage citizen participation and may
enter the conversation
by using the tag #Internet Day in Twitter.

Internet
connects us with Latin America.
Latin America is also very present in this edition of Internet Day
with activities aimed at using social networks as a meeting point
among all Spanish-speaking countries.

Fundèu
BBVA Foundation celebrates anniversary with an open debate on the use
of Spanish in new media from www.manualdeestilo.com work. This portal
is the embryo of what will be the 'Manual of Style for new media'
that BBVA Fundèu prepared with contributions from Internet users.
The workshop will be led by Mario Tascon (@mtascon), and will be
attended by Antonio Fraguas (@forges), the content director of
Hypertext, Marilín Gonzalo (@ marilink) or the Mexican
writer Cristina Rivera Garza (@criveragarza).

In northern Ghana, a “bottom-up” approach to improving the health and
environment of rural villages is logging positive results. ICT interventions
relying on mobile technology and e-learning play a big role in implementation.

A project in Ghana seeks to
improve the lives of rural villagers by marrying information and communication
technologies with the use of “change agents” – selected community members who
receive special training. Operating out of their head office in Kumasi, near
the middle of the country, the eCAP Ghana Foundation
works in the northern villages of Niliyungdo and Nagbi. The project focuses on
topics related to health, the environment, microfinance and education.

The
transformation of one of the participating villages has been “remarkable”,
according to Eva Kagiri, who works for eCAP’s international partner, the
Swedish NGO MKFC. In an April interview
with ICTWorks , Kagiri described how eCAP trained three young men to be
change agents. They then taught village residents in Niliyungdo how to clean
water using the “solar
disinfection method”, and about waste disposal and environmental issues to
avoid spread of diseases. To convey information to residents in an engaging
manner, the young men used using role play, pictures and videos.

“We learned
how to clean our water,” a female resident of Niliyungdo later told the eCAP team. “We also learned to keep our
water covered. Some of us who did not believe what we were doing would make a
difference now believe. We are no longer going to the hospital because of the
sickness from the water“. Explaining
their approach to implementation, Kay Obiri-Mainoo, the Project Coordinator of
eCAP Ghana, says they try to establish a close bond with community members so
that they feel comfortable opening up and talking about anything that might be
bothering them. Obiri-Mainoo also emphasized that his organization believes in
the “bottom-up approach,” where they target and train individuals and later
scale up to the larger community.

The goal of
the project is not only to encourage positive change in the lives of community
members themselves. The project also prepares these communities to become
agents of change and pass knowledge on to other communities within their
district. One of the
project’s biggest challenges, says Obiri-Mainoo, has been language barriers.
Facilitators often do not speak the local dialect of the communities where they
are working, thus forcing them to rely on an interpreter which sometimes
complicates the flow of communication.

In addition
to video, mobile phone technology is central to the project. In between visits
to the village, team members stay in touch by communicating with community
leaders, chiefs, teachers and opinion leaders through mobile phones. Typical
mobile correspondences are done by either text message or voice calls. The
project also uses mobile phones as a broadcast mechanism for sending out
regular reminders. For example, text messages are sent to the community to
remind them to disinfect their water using the solar method. Mobile phones
invariably save project facilitators time and travel costs.

People living in the poorest countries in the
world are benefiting from a ‘mobile cellular miracle’ which has
seen access to voice and simple data connectivity rise from an LDC
average of 1.2% of the population to almost 30% in just ten years,
according to figures released by ITU at the LDC IV conference this
week.

This steep rise in phone connectivity far
exceeds the targets set out in the LDC III Brussels Programme of
Action, which called for average telephone density in LDCs to reach
5% by 2011.

The democratization and
rapid spread of mobile cellular technology – which, in 2001, was
still considered the province of people in wealthy countries – has
transformed the ICT landscape in the world’s 48 UN-designated
Least Developed Countries,
bringing connectivity to almost 250 million people in LDCs.

ITU figures confirm that while the number of
fixed lines has barely risen in LDCs over the past decade, reflecting
global trends, mobile access has mushroomed, with cumulative annual
growth rates over the past five years of 42.6% in LDCs compared to
just 7.1% in developed countries.

In 2009, only a tiny handful of LDCs –
Myanmar, Kiribati, Eritrea and Ethiopia – still had mobile
penetration below the LDC III target of 5% – and that number is
expected to shrink further by mid-2010.

But still far too few Internet users in LDCs

The past decade has also seen significant
progress in getting people in LDCs online, with 2.5% average Internet
penetration by the end of 2010, compared to under 0.3% in 2001. But
that is nothing like enough, according to ITU Secretary-General Dr
Hamadoun Touré, and remains well below the Brussels III target of
10%.

“People ask me if Internet
penetration is really such a high priority for people who, on a daily
basis, face a lack of safe drinking water, rising food prices, and a
chronic shortage of healthcare,” said Dr Touré. “My answer is a
resounding ‘yes’. Because the Internet – and especially
broadband – is an extraordinary enabler which has potential to
massively expand the effective delivery of vital services, such as
healthcare and education. Nowhere is this more important than in
countries where people are chronically deprived of these services”.

The purpose of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.

17th May marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union.

This year, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day highlight the theme “Better life in rural communities with ICTs”, which was adopted by ITU Council in 2009 and follows up on the theme for 2010: “Better city, better life with ICTs”.

ICTs are increasingly in demand to meet the Millennium Development Goals. In the rural context, ICTs provide enhanced opportunities to generate income and combat poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy.

Half the world’s population resides in rural districts and far flung communities. This half — three billion people — represent the poorer, less educated, and more deprived cousins of our urban citizens. Indeed, latest figures indicate that as many as 70 per cent of the developing world’s 1.4 billion extremely poor people live in rural areas. They are also among the least connected to the benefits of ICTs. We cannot allow this situation to continue.

As the leading specialized agency of the United Nations for information and communication technologies (ICT), ITU looks towards its Members to raise awareness of the role of ICTs in creating fresh opportunities for a better life through long-term, sustainable development, not least among the most vulnerable sections of our society.

ICTs and related e-applications are key instruments in improving governance and rural services, such as providing community health care, safe drinking water and sanitation, education, food and shelter; improving maternal health and reducing child mortality; empowering women and the more vulnerable members of society; and ensuring environmental sustainability. As ICTs increasingly dictate lifestyles and behavior patterns and power the growth of trade and commerce, rural communities must not be allowed to fall behind cities in their quest for connectivity.

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the chat will help from now to prevent and address violence against women as part of the campaign “if they love you, they should love you well”, developed by the Ministry of Women and Social Development (Mimdes)of Peru. The Minister of Mimdes, Virginia Borra, today launched the preventive campaign against violence through electronic means, considering the large influence that those have among youth.

"Currently, in Peru there are over three million users of Facebook, of which the majority is composed by young and just 30 percent of cases of violence treated in emergency centers woman is young victims aged between 13 and 25 years old".

Borra explained that from now is available to enter the on the ministry's website and link to the “Chat 100” section, where you can anonymously seek help from a specialist. "Here there will be no records of names, so this means you can go to calmly explain your situation to the professionals who attend from 08:00 to 22:00 hours", explained the minister.

Also, if you prefer contact through Facebook and Twitter can be added or follow “sitkiernktkieranbien” account to access communication and receive professional advice on the subject to exit or overcome any situation of violence.

You can also find news, prevention messages, pictures and videos on the subject, which aims to raise awareness about the need to combat violence against women. "Do not forget that the whole issue of violence starts with stressful situations, with small disagreements and minor conflicts unresolved, which may come to physical and verbal aggression and lawlessness".

Borra insisted that it is important that when you start a process of violence, this has to be reported immediately to avoid extreme cases, as many femicide and attempted killings that happen in the country.

Senior United Nations officials today stressed the need to promote the participation of women in decision-making, noting that democracy and gender equality are interlinked and mutually reinforcing.

“While women’s political participation improves democracy, the reverse is also true: democracy is an incubator for gender equality,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his remarks at a roundtable held at UN Headquarters on gender equality and democracy.

“It provides public space for discussion of human rights and women’s empowerment. It enables women’s groups to mobilize. It makes it easier for women to realize their political, civil, economic and social rights.”

He told participants at the event, which included representatives from various UN departments and entities, as well as the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, that one need look no further than the daily headlines to see the timeliness of today’s gathering.

“Women were among those who marched in Côte d’Ivoire to uphold the democratic will of the people – with several of them killed for making that stand,” said Mr. Ban. “In Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere, women have been among those in the vanguard demanding change, rights, dignity, and opportunity.”

Noting gender inequality in decision-making remains a great impediment to democracy, the Secretary-General said more must be done to address the gender gap in democratic participation.

Based
on the AudienceScapes nationally representative survey of Tanzania,
conducted in July 2010.

The
report focuses on how people of different social groups in Tanzania
consume, share and assess information on key health issues including
HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Maternal and Child Health. Specifically, the
report helps development organizations to identify health information
needs for Tanzania adults and ways to share such information with key
demographic groups.

There
is inequitable access to health information in Tanzania - with
significant differences between rural and urban dwellers and among
socioeconomic groups. As in most developing countries, the rural
residents or those of lower socioeconomic status are disadvantaged in
terms of access to communication tools and health information in
general. This report provides insights into how development
practitioners should craft their health campaigns.

This report draws
from a nationally representative survey of Tanzanian
individuals, conducted in July 2010. The survey included
modules on access to information sources generally as well as access
to information about health-related issues, plus questions about
trust in various information sources and use of word-of-mouth
networks to stay informed about health issues. The survey was based
on face-to-face interviews and covered all regions of the country.

The
FAO-Dimitra Project,
a participatory information and communication initiative whose goal
is to improve the visibility of rural men and women, recently
launched “Communicating
Gender for Rural Development: Integrating Gender in Communication for
Development.” This handbook is designed for all
development practitioners (not only communication/ information
specialists) and was born out of the observation that all too often,
gender is overlooked in the design of communication initiatives for
development in rural areas and that rural populations, women
particularly, are rarely viewed as primary sources of information.
This has an impact on the action of communication with consequences
that vary from reduced efficiency to adverse results.

The publication
reviews the concepts and approaches of gender and communication and
the reasons for including gender in communication for development
initiatives in rural areas; it also provides practical guidance on
achieving this successfully.

Unlike
conventional communication initiatives that often deliver top-down
messages to a sometimes passive audience, communication for
development initiatives are based on a dialogue process that aims to
achieve sustainable changes within a community. They are implemented
on the premise that change will take hold only if the community takes
ownership. Therefore, this type of initiative promotes a
participatory process that involves all the members of the target
population from the start and empowers them to shape the project as
it unfolds.

Rural
populations face serious challenges in accessing information and
means of communication: they are geographically isolated with very
limited access to services and infrastructure, have low rates of
literacy and no possibility to seek out information, and their
knowledge and skills are for the most part undervalued and
unsolicited. Rural women, particularly, are disadvantaged. Customary
practices often prevent them from accessing education and
participating in public life, farmers’ organizations, and
decision-making authorities such as village councils.

The
UN Programme on Youth (UNPY) is hosting a briefing session
on Empowering Disadvantaged and Vulnerable Girls and Young Women, in
the context of the International Year of Youth. Kicking off the
session will be the presentation of a video followed by a panel
discussion with young people, civil society and UN experts. The
panel, which will be moderated by Ms Susana Vas Patto from the
Permanent Mission of Portugal to the UN, will discuss the
root causes of disadvantage and vulnerability in girls and
young women and will explore mechanisms for improving their
participation in society, through active leadership, education and
access to basic services.

Please
join us in discussing the importance of enhancing opportunities for
girls and young women:

Investing
in adolescent girls and young women is key to development and
a priority of the UN system. Furthermore, ensuring the participation
of girls and young women at all levels is central to the
International Year of Youth. Girls and young women can face
disadvantage and vulnerability for a multitude of reasons, including
poverty, lack access to education and health care, violence and
conflict. These factors serve to limit the chances of girls
and young women to actively participate in society, exposing
them to greater vulnerability and marginalization. Through
education, awareness raising and enhanced participatory
opportunities, young women’s role in society can be greatly
improved. The promotion of education for girls and young women as
well as the development of young women as leaders are some of the
tools which ensure young women role and visibility in society is
strengthened.

ITU and the Telecom Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) have inaugurated a project to connect 25 schools in Akuressa, Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Under the “Connect a School, Connect a Community” initiative, ICT tools such as computers and printers as well as Internet connectivity will be provided.

Within the framework of a public-private-people’s partnership (4Ps) model, telecommunication operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and NGOs have joined the project as partners to assist in providing access to education through ICTs in the rural schools of Sri Lanka, ITU and the Telecom Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) have inaugurated a project to connect 25 schools in Akuressa, Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Under the “Connect a School, Connect a Community” initiative, ICT tools such as computers and printers as well as Internet connectivity will be provided.

Within the framework of a public-private-people’s partnership (4Ps) model, telecommunication operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and NGOs have joined the project as partners to assist in providing access to education through ICTs in the rural schools of Sri Lanka, some of which are located in remote communities. This project aims to transform these schools into connected community ICT centres. Their long-term sustainability would provide a vital link to marginalized and vulnerable groups including children, women, indigenous people, persons with disabilities and those living in rural, remote and underserved areas of Sri Lanka.

In addition, Intel plans to offer training for 62 teachers at 31 schools through the Intel Teach programme, which helps teachers to be more effective educators. The programme entails training teachers to integrate technology into their lessons and to promote problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills among their students.

Appreciating the partnership and assistance extended by ITU, TRCSL, Intel and ADB, which funded a project to promote ICT education in rural areas of the island, the Secretary in the Ministry for Education of Sri Lanka, Mr H.M. Gunasekara said, “This initiative provided our school system with much needed ICT equipment, know-how and teacher empowerment to reach our national ICT goals.”(Source: ITU Newsroom)

New recommendations calling for an unprecedented level of accountability to save the lives of more women and children in developing countries were agreed today by the United Nations Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health which met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. These new approaches will help ensure that pledges are honoured and resources spent in the most effective way to save lives.

The ten recommendations include specific approaches to:

* Help countries develop better ways of gathering important health data to improve understanding of health needs and where resources should be focused * Develop a coordinated system for tracking health spending on women and children * National and global oversight to establish a feedback mechanism that supports continuous improvement in delivery of health services for women and children

To better understand the current situation and impact of efforts, the Commission advised monitoring progress based on specific indicators, such as the number of women who have access to skilled care during childbirth and the number of children treated for pneumonia.

“All partners are mutually accountable for the promises they make and the health policies and programmes they design and implement,” said Jakaya Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania and co-chair of the Commission with Stephen Harper, Canadian Prime Minister. “Tracking resources and results of public health spending is critical for transparency, credibility and ensuring that much-needed funds are used to save the lives of women and children.”The recommendations, which come after more than five months of in-depth discussions and work across a high-level group of global leaders, were delivered at the conclusion of the second and final meeting of the Commission. The goal is to improve transparency, ensure consistency in reporting and more effectively track resources spent on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health.

Community Technology Centers (CTCs) of the Office of the First Lady (DPD) developed various activities to mark the international day of the Girls in ICT, established by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to encourage participation of women in information technology and communication (ICT).

Throughout the day, in the Favidrio CTC community were conducted dialogues with girls and young women, where it was explained what is a computer, the benefits of information and communication technology and the risk that have the use of Internet.

Also, more than 500 children and adolescents conducted a guided tour of various areas of CTC, they manipulated the computers and explored on Internet topics of their interest. This action encouraged them to learn more about the wonderful world of technology.

At the meeting, the student and volunteer of Favidrio CTC, Ivel de los Santos, guided the "Women and Technology" discussion group, which served to explain that technology is present in everyday life and is used in various areas, including health, business, communication, education, among other daily activities.

"The technology is easy, fast and effective and makes women can work better in society and working life" said de los Santos who are students of St. Rita Parish School of San Cristobal.

Greater efforts to support girls and young women
to acquire skills in information and communications technologies (ICTs)
could help address projected shortages of manpower in those
professions, the United Nations telecommunications agency said today,
marking the first “Girls in ICT Day.”

“With many countries now forecasting a shortage of skilled ICT
professionals within the next ten years, it’s vital that we attract
young women into technology if we are to sustain healthy growth rates
for the industry overall,” said Hamadoun Touré, the Secretary-General of
the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in a statement announcing the launch of the Day.

“With excellent employment opportunities and very good remuneration, a
career in technology represents an excellent choice for girls in every
country worldwide,” Mr. Touré added.

The Girls in ICT Day will be observed on the fourth Thursday of April
every year to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women
through the use of ICTs. It results from a resolution adopted at ITU’s
Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, last year.

Under the resolution, ITU pledged to incorporate a gender perspective in
the implementation of all its programmes and plans, following which the
Global Network of Women in ICT was established.

The network is designed to encourage girls and young women to choose
technology careers by providing mentoring resources, high-profile role
models and toolkits that help national authorities and organizations
promote technology careers to women. It is supported by ITU’s
Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), which, through its Gender
Unit, is working on a range of strategies to use ICT to improve the
livelihood of women worldwide.

On April 28th will be held International Girls in ICT Day in Colombia, which started as an initiative of the Global Network of Women ICT - WITNET of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union).

This celebration is held with the aim of fostering an inclusive environment for the empowerment of girls and women through personal development, academic and professional careers related to Information and Communication Technology.

The ICT Ministry joins to the celebration of International Women in Technology by the official launch of Squadron #BrigadaDigital#"GeekGirls" of Colombia. The launch will take place in the context of a virtual seminar with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications, the Ministry of Education, the International Telecommunication Union and the UN in Colombia. During the launch will feature testimonials of Colombian women who develop and use ICTs.

The event organized by the #"GeekGirls" will be an opportunity to reflect on the impact of ICT on gender and challenges to harness and enhance the opportunities and advantages that these technologies offer to improve the quality of life, educational processes, economic and social women.

The digital meeting will be held on Thursday April 28 from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm and will be seen through one of the collaborative spaces of the #BrigadaDigital: http://pio.la/platforms/brigadadigital.

Regarding to this event, Paolo Rosa, ITU Regional Officer for the Americas commented that on behalf of ITU Secretary General Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré and the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau Director Brahima Sanou, he is delighted to join Colombia’s first celebration of Girls in ICT Day. ITU salutes Colombia as one of the first countries to celebrate Girls in ICT following the ITU call for action on this initiative.

Through Resolution 70, ITU seeks to promote and increase the interest of, and opportunities for, women and girls in ICT careers. This Resolution also established the new Global Network of Women in ICT Decision Makers (http://witnet.org/index.php), which was launched by Serbia’s Minister of Telecommunications and Information Society, Ms Jasna Matić, with the support of the ITU Secretary General and UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet during the 55th session of the Conference on the Status of Women this February.

ITU believes that support for girls in ICT is especially timely, in light of the predicted shortage of skilled ICT professionals within the next ten years. A career in technology promises excellent employment opportunities for girls and women around the globe.

The Dominican Republic will held in the school Fabio Mota the "World Day of Girls in ICT", taking the call from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) which launched the initiative to encourage greater participation of girls in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The information was given today by Amparo Arango Echeverri, Coordinator of the Technical Support Unit of the National Commission for Information Society and Knowledge (CNSIC). She said that to celebrate this day, the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) through CNSIC and the Research Center for the female Action (CIPAF), institution that is "implementing a project on Gender and ICT: Gender Equity and Equality E-Dominicana", are organizing a panel-meeting in the high school, Fabio Mota aimed to young students (especially women) in the third and fourth grade of high school.The event will take place on Thursday April 28th.

Indotel, CNSIC and CIPAF will held this meeting-panel to discuss integration of women into the technology. "This new Day
of the Girls in ICT will provide a much needed boost to the
participation of women in the ICT sector", said Dr. Hamadoun Touré, ITU
General-Secretary. "At the time when many countries are planning a
shortage of ICT professionals over the next ten years, it is essential
to attract young women into technology to maintain healthy growth rates
for industry as a whole. A career technology, which offers excellent
employment opportunities and a good remuneration, represents an
excellent choice for girls of any country in the world", said Touré.

Family planning and Maternal and Child Health (FP-MCH) are key
components of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, given their central
role in healthy and productive populations. Tanzania has made some
progress in these areas in recent years - for example, mortality rates
among infants and children under five have declined. However, Tanzania
has lagged in maternal health, with the UN MDG Monitor declaring that
the country’s goal of reducing the maternal mortality ratio and
increasing access to reproductive health is “off track”.

The 2010 AudienceScapes survey of Tanzania included a module to measure people's access to
information in general, and access to health information in particular,
as well as access to health services. The data yield some helpful
guidelines for public health professionals seeking to educate the
Tanzanian public about FP-MCH:

Mass media, particularly radio, continues to play an important role
in delivering FP-MCH information to vulnerable groups. Community
word-of-mouth campaigns delivered by public health workers have the
potential to be just as important, particularly among socioeconomically
constrained populations with low levels of access to media outlets.

A large proportion of Tanzanians across the country said they have
access to clinics and medical doctors. However, only between a quarter
and a third of respondents listed medical doctors as sources of
information about FP-MCH.

There is a clear demand for more information about FP-MCH. Over half
of all respondents, including young women, said they would like more
information about FP and 41 percent wanted further information on MCH.

Health professionals must be aware of not only what are the key
information gathering tools for general target groups like young women
and men, but they also need to be aware of the limited reach of some
media platforms among disadvantaged sub-groups.

Telefónica España and the Association Community of Telecentre Networks signed an agreement to publicize Ciberescuela, a project that disclose the use of new technologies among the groups at risk of digital exclusion - housewives, elderly, immigrants, etc. - through the provision of basic Internet courses in the Telecentre. The goal is that no one would be outside from the Information Society.

This is a self-study course to learn Internet "at your own rithm", with a virtual teacher. It is almost 3 hours in the given notions about browsers, search engines, email management, electronic banking or ethics and network security, using multiple examples and providing an opportunity for the student to continue practicing through links to other pages. The contents have been designed jointly by Telefonica Spain and Telefonica Foundation.

The courses require no prior knowledge of computers by students and are taught in the regions that are involved in the project and previously signed a specific agreement.

Telefónica España is committed to providing information about the project "Ciberescuela" and makes this course compatible with supports of Windows, Linux and Mac as well as to offer subtitled versions of the same in Galician, Euskera, Catalan and Valencian.

For its part, the Association Community Network of Telecentres, State association for the development and dissemination of new technologies comprised of 18 members of the autonomous communities, provinces and insular authorities and foundations; which represent about 8,000 telecentres and have 4 million users, has to disseminate among its members, the contents and objectives of the project Ciberescuela, and present the initiative to the different local authorities, promoting the signing of agreements with these entities to implement the project.

The diferent public policies generated by the institutions of State should have a gender focus, to guarantee rights of vulnerable populations such as women, children and elderly, and more if they are in a disabilities position .

The vice Minister of Women, Ana Maria Mendieta, who was in charge the inauguration of the Second National Women and Disability Congress, reaffirmed that the State is obligated to provide better conditions for their development to people with disabilities, saying that a Women with disabilities suffer double discrimination, and a disabled girl from triple discrimination.

She commented that it must be differentiated policies aimed at men and women, and considered as paramount the coordination between the State and the Civil Society to promote better public policies.

In the event it was discussed issues such as decent employment and disability, job placement, importance of software for inclusion of persons with disabilities, job training, the importance of rehabilitation in the labor market, among other topics.

The event was held at the headquarters of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in San Isidro, and was attended by the President of the National Council for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities (CONADIS), the Director of the ILO for Andean Countries , Carmen Moreno, the representative of the National Labor Promotion Office for Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Labour, Felipe Celi Ato and the Permanent Representative of the Organization of American States in Peru, David Morris.

Only 23% of the UK’s tech workforce is female, but this figure
might change in the future thanks to the arrival of Apps for Good to the
Central Foundation Girls´ School (CFGS) in East London.

The Apps for Good course inaugurates its second location in the UK at
the Central Foundation Girls’ School on 15th September, after launching
its first CDI Community this March at the High Trees Community
Development Trust, in Tulse Hill, South London.

Apps for Good is the new programme by CDI Europe where young people
learn to create apps that change their world. It is focused around
solving real life issues that matter to young people or the communities
they live in. During the course, young people work together to find out
what issues they want to tackle, and how best to solve them with mobile
and web applications. Apps for Good encourages young people to use their
creativity to develop the problem solving and design skills which are
extremely valuable not only in the mobile app industry, but also in
today’s complex information society.

Ben Cole, Head of Community at CFGS, assures: “This is the perfect
project and we are the perfect place to develop it. All the girls who
applied for the course want to achieve something and they see this
programme as a real opportunity for them. They see themselves as
privileged kids because they are getting an education and Apps for Good
has given them the chance to put their passion for technologies to the
service of the community in a practical way by developing apps that will
solve specific problems around them.”

More than 40 girls applied for a place on the Apps for Good course,
but only 20 of them will be able to attend the course, where some of the
former Apps for Good students will now be working as educators.

“It was really difficult to make the selection of students”, explains
Cole, “because all of them showed a great interest, and in the end we
tried to come up with a mix of skills, abilities and attitudes.”

The lessons will take place twice a week as part of the Central+
programme. Central+ is an activity project for after school hours
developed by CFGS, which offers the girls the opportunity to follow
different activities such as learning street dance, joining a cinema
club or going horse riding, among others. “All we want is for the girls
to enjoy the same opportunities as any other student in the UK”,
explains Cole.

Mobile and social networks have become a tool for defence the human right, which has allowed instantly, denounce violations and abuse of power by governments and help in case of natural disasters, experts said today.

"Thanks to the mobile technology, people can embarrass governments when they intend to do one thing diferent what they say", said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, in CTIA Wireless conference that ended in Orlando (Florida).

During the three-day event with the slogan "Get Goin la vida móvil, 2011" the main leaders discussed the needs of industry and sector social impact, allowing communications over natural disasters, by intensifying the democratic spirit stifling governments and even triggering revolutions.

Roth also highlighted the performance of social networks as "Twitter" in the instant disclosure of "abuse that otherwise could be hidden or could take days before be known, while generating social change and political, as never before possible".

John Stanton, director of Trilogy International Partners, highlighted the important role of social networks on transmit messages during natural disasters in Haiti earthquake last year.

The First Lady of Dominican Republic (Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández) presented the Community Technology Centre (CTC) “Villa Mella”, a world of knowledge where municipalities may acquire all the necessary information to be updated and develop income-generating projects that will enable a better quality of life of the population.

With this new center totaled 69 CTC delivered by the First Lady throughout the national territory for municipalities boost their dreams, improve their skills and be motivated to initiate new productive and educational activities.

As an innovation, this center includes a classroom called "tecnochic @ s", where teenagers from 12 to 17 years may be inserted into the world of technology in a responsible, efficient and competitive, promoting academic and professional development for the purposes of improve their living conditions.

The new center has a modern network of 30 computers connected to the Internet, through which residents of the area can access to quality educational programs, as well as books and encyclopedias. It also has a documentary and several virtual library, a reception, offices and an information area.

In addition, it offers digital literacy, access to databases, fax, educational programs on the network, sources of information about jobs, conference room and multipurpose room for meetings to help plan educational, cultural and actions that benefit community.

For the very young people, with ages ranging from three to five years, the CTC has a children's area known as Space of Hope, where children receive comprehensive education potentiates their full cognitive, motor, and socio-communicative, with the approval of the Ministry of Education.

Like all communities, “Villa Mella” has its community Frequency Modulation Radio, called CTC. It is a space for dialogue, integration and participation of all people, whose aim is to guide and address issues of local interest.

The information presented within this blog comes from various organizations around the world. ITU encourages users to seek more detailed information from the original source through the links provided.
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